A misleading comparison between U.S., Italy

Regarding Dr. Feinsinger’s letter noting how poorly the U.S. compares with Italy as far as mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19, he does not account for the fact that Italy has one-sixth the population of the United States (“America, Trump slow to address the coronavirus,” April 22, The Aspen Times).

If he did his computations proportionally he would have realized that the U.S. would have had approximately 240,000 deaths instead of the 41,000 deaths the country has had; also he would have noted that the U.S. would have had 4.56 million cases of COVID-19 instead of approximately 760,000 cases; that being said, I certainly agree with Dr. Feinsinger that in retrospect many of our policies and actions could have been done in a more efficacious and effective manner; of course it is always easier to make judgments on events which have occurred in the past.

Donald Norris M.D.

Aspen and Riverwoods, Illinois

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